Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



H. F, WHEELER.

' Breech-Loading Fire-Arm No. 55,752. Patented June 19, 1866.

YN.PETERS, Puo'ro-umo ammzli. WASHINGTON. 0. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

H. F. WHEELER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT-IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,752, dated June 19, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, H. F. WHEELER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Breech-Loading FireArm; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

In the possession of small or pocket firearms for protection it is often desirable, while having a cartridgepistol carrying a tolerably heavy ball, to also have .for practice an arm firing a ball of very small or minimum weight.

The object of this invention is to combine with one look and hammer a magazine containing two breech-loading barrels, one for the reception and firing of a ball of minimum or small weight, and the other for the recep tion and firing of a heavier ball, the magazine being so applied as to revolve on a breechpin to bring either barrel into position with respect to the hammer. It is such a combi nation or construction which constitutes the invention.

The drawings represent a pistol embodyiing the invention, A showing the same partly in elevation and partly in central vertical section, B a side elevation of the pistol with the barrels in position for loading, 0 a cross-section taken on the red line a; so in A.

a denotes the stock or handle having a breech-block, b, from the face of which abreechpin, 0, extends. On this pin is supported the piece (I, carrying two barrels, e f, as seen at A and G, the barrel 6 being of small bore, to contain a small cartridge, and the barrel f having a larger bore for the reception of a large cartridge and ball. The barrels rotate on the breech-pin to bring either barrel into position for the hammer g to strike upon and explode the cartridge. When in position for firing the barrels are locked to the breechblock by a pin or pins, h, which work into a slot or slots, t', in the breech-pin, and keep the barrels from endwise movement, whileaspringlatch, 10, catching into a notch just below the lower barrel, keeps them from rotating. The breech-pin is narrowed down just in front of the slots 2', as seen at O, leaving one or two projections, a, which look against the pins h. From these projections to the end of the pin the diameter of the pin is decreased and a partial or quarter rotation of the barrels brings the projections u out of line with the pins h, and allows the pins, and thereby the barrels, to slide outward, as will be readily understood, the extent of the outward movement being determined by shoulders 0 striking the end of a confiningpin, m, which extends centrally into the piece (I, in line with the breechpin, and has a nut 0r screw-thread formed in its end, that screws upon a thread on the end of the breech-pin, as seen at A.

After the pistol is fired and the hammer brought back to half-cock the barrels are rotated ninety degrees on the breech-pin, and then are slid lengthwise on the breech-pin, as seen at B, the flange or cap on the cartridgeshell being caught behind a detainer, l, and expelled thereby, the same as shown in my patent of October 31, 1865, No. 50,760. The parts are now in position for loading either barrel, and after the insertion of the cartridge the barrels are slid up to the breechblock and turned in the direction to bring the particular barrel which it is desired next to tire into position for tiring or opposite to the hammer.

The position of the parts for introduction of the cartridge into the barrel, the method of bringing the barrel into position for tiring, and the method of expelling the cartridgeshell and of bringing the barrel into position to be loaded are all the same, or substantially the same, as in my Patent No. 50,760.

The flange Z, which detains and causes the expulsion of the cartridgeshell after firing, has a recess, 1), on each side of it for allowing a cartridge in either barrel to slip past the flange and be brought into position forfiring.

This construction, arrangement, and method of operation of the two barrels is very simple, and gives in effect two arms of varied caliber in one pistol, while the additional barrel adds but a very trifle to the cost of construction and gives to the arm a more convenient and desirable form for a pocket-pistol than is obtained in single breech-loaders.

I claimnallyon said pin for expulsion of the cartridge- In combination with the breech-block and shellandinsertionof acztrtridge, substantially single hammer, the two breech-loading baras set forth.

rels of varied caliber, when so hung upon the H. F. WHEELER. breech-pin as to permit either barrel at will Witnesses: to be brought into position with respect to the J. B. CROSBY,

hammer for firing and to be slid longitndi- F. GOULD. 

